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I apologize that I did not post a blog last week. I hope to get back to a more normal schedule next week. My elderly mother was in the hospital and is now in rehab. She has fractures in her sacrum and is in a great deal of pain. Taking care of all of the organizational and caregiving needs has required a great deal of time and travel. Please pray for decreased pain and healing for her. Her name is Marilyn.

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“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42

Beautiful surrender to the will of God for the glory of God, that is what Jesus shows us there in the Garden of Gethsemane. He shares the sorrow and agony of His heart, asks for a different path, but surrenders to the wisdom of His Father’s will.

Oh, Jesus, what lessons we can learn from You there in the Garden.

1. Jesus took the pain and deep distress He felt and shared the reality of it.

Jesus took with Him His three dearest friends, His inner circle. Jesus did not hide behind a facade of “I’m fine,” or “Hey, I got this one guys, no pain, no gain.” He was real about how He felt, He didn’t hide His agony.

When you are in agony and distress what do you do? Do you go to Your Heavenly Father and speak to Him out of the place of your desperation, out of the cellar of your soul?

Our Father in Heaven wants us to freely come to Him with our pain, worry, fear, and hurt. He wants us to know His presence and to trust Him with our needs and our concerns.

2. Jesus prayed with earnestness, yet He prayed with a great desire to bring His Father glory.

His prayer was a prayer of surrender, “not my will but your’s bedone.”

Jesus asked for the cup to be taken from Him, but He left the decision in His Father’s hands.

I think the difference here, at least sometimes in my prayers, is that I tell the Father how to accomplish my will. And all the fear in my heart, all of my worry, all of my inner distress shadows the light of God’s love. Jesus knows the Father’s love, He does not question it. And Jesus speaks to the Father out of a place of deepest humility. When we come in humility, it no longer is about getting our way, it’s about God getting the glory.

3. Jesus lives up to His name Prince of Peace even when He is arrested. He lives and dies to bring glory to God.

Jesus gets up from praying and soon His betrayers are at hand. He sees the army of men coming to get Him. He doesn’t become alarmed or put up a fight. He remains peaceful. In fact, when an ear is sliced off of one of the soldier’s that has come for Him, Jesus takes time to heal the man’s ear.

When I get up from prayer and I sometimes leave feeling unsure of what will happen. I leave with fear, I question my Heavenly Father’s love, I leave that place in a mode of self-protection. It still is all about me and I want to fight for what I want. But, not so with Jesus.

I am sure Jesus left His place of prayer knowing He was going to the cross, knowing He would face separation from His Father, and that He would carry the heavy burden of the sins of the world. Yet, He left empowered to bring God glory. He didn’t self-protect and fight against the coming cross. He wasn’t interested in taking revenge by fighting or hurting the soldiers. He only stood strong in His Father’s love and walked peacefully in a continued ministry toward the mission of greater grace.

4. Jesus goes with the soldiers to His trial and does not argue, He let’s Truth be truth.

Do you want to fight for your way? As I have said, there are sometimes that I do.

Fighting with words or with power is the way of fear, but “perfect love casts out fear.” And Jesus walks in perfect love, fully trusting His Father’s will to be best. He goes to the trial, He goes to the cross as “a lamb to the slaughter.” He has no need to defend Himself. He knows Who He and Whose He is.

5. Jesus endures the agony of the cross still filled with love.

I don’t know about you, but I have trouble dealing with pain, and my natural response when I am in pain is not often one of love.

But Jesus, even on the cross, responds with love. He sees the evil, He feels the heaviness of the sin, and He prays. He prays for His Father to forgive them, “for they know not what they do.” Jesus has sympathy and empathy, He again shows love and gives grace even there on the cross. He surrenders to the way of the Father even then. He lives out love and showers us with grace even today.

6. Jesus’ body is taken to the tomb and on the third day He rises from the dead.

He surrendered to the point of the cross and death and then comes forth from the tomb. HE IS RISEN! And all glory goes to our Heavenly Father for giving us Jesus as our substitute.

Only Jesus could surrender in humility and love for the purpose of grace and glory.

Only Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, could be slaughtered for our sin, risen to give us His righteousness and hope everlasting.

All our faith and hope must be in Him for He alone is our Savior. He walked the path of surrender to give all glory to the Father. He is our perfect example.

Lord, help us to follow in the way of our Suffering Servant. Help us to walk the path of surrender as we know the magnitude of Your love. May all glory be given to You. Amen.

Have a blessed Resurrection Day as you remember all that Jesus has done for us.

Loneliness makes my heart hurt. It is sad. It is a very needy feeling. To me loneliness is the absence of heart connection. We each need connection to different levels of depth. And when we are disconnected for whatever reason we can feel lonely.

It could be your spouses pre-occupation with their own stuff that leaves you feeling lonely.

It could be because you feel isolated emotionally by what you are going through leaving you to feel as if no one understands.

Or, maybe the busyness of life leave you feeling disconnected.

There are so many scenarios that can leave us feeling lonely. When we are lonely we feel empty and deeply desire to receive understanding and acceptance.

Loneliness can be felt whether you are alone or in a crowd, it’s a feeling of isolation. You may be at a family gathering or alone in your apartment and loneliness can strike.

The prophet Jeremiah was isolated by his calling. The Lord called him to tell the Israelites difficult things and no one wanted to listen to him. Jeremiah chose to listen to the Lord despite the pain this brought him. He obediently shared the Lord’s words to these rebellious people.

The Lord forbids Jeremiah to interact with the Israelites, in fact, Jeremiah was told not to get married or have children. Jeremiah didn’t have any close relationships in his life. This caused him to struggle.

We struggle in our times of loneliness also. Our personal times of loneliness may not be because of God’s call on our lives, but our feelings may be similar to Jeremiah’s.

The book of Jeremiah reveals that he was ridiculed and insulted because of the words he had to proclaim. We learn that Jeremiah had no close friends. We hear him becoming angry and frustrated with the responses of the people whom he shared God’s message with because they refused to listen.

Jeremiah’s loneliness led him to feel depressed and to even wish that he had never been born.

Jeremiah was honest with the Lord about how he felt. We see this most often in the book of Psalms. Ths often allow their raw feelings to spill out to the Lord. We too can be honest before the Lord with our feelings and needs.

Jeremiah was able to help himself through this difficult time by remembering what the Lord had promised. Psalm 37:4 tells us to “feed on His faithfulness.” This verse stands out to me in the midst of all neediness. It helps me know, as I remember God’s words to me or as I remember all He has done for me, that I can find hope.

God’s promise of bringing the people under a new covenant brought Jeremiah hope to help him keep moving forward. We too can think back to what the Lord has done in our lives. We can hold tight to verses that He has used to speak to our hearts. We can find hope and know that He is present with us.

The Lord knows our desperate need for connection. He gives us the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus as Savior. We can constantly speak to Him who lives on the inside of us. We can choose to share what is on our hearts and minds knowing that He listens and cares.

When we go through times of loneliness we need to call out to God. We can say again, “Lord, I need you!” We can tell HIm what we need:

I need acceptance.

I ned to feel loved.

I need to be known.

I need connection in my life.

We can, also, talk with those we know who love us, about how we are feeling and ask for help through the difficult times. It may mean asking for a listening ear, or finding a time for deep sharing. Possibly, it may mean talking something out to develop understanding with another person.

We need to reach out to the Lord and others, especially in our loneliness.

I don’t usually write a second post for a day, but I need to apologize to each one of you. I am so grateful for each one of you who come to visit my blog and to those who receive my posts via email. I do not take it lightly that you take time to read and connect with me. I appreciate each one of you.

It is because of my appreciation for you that I am writing this apology. I was just going through a few of my recent posts and realized that there are way too many errors. I was appalled. I know how time consuming reading blog posts can be, and there is no reason why you should have the task of reading something that has not been edited well.

I want to apologize for my many mistakes, and I want to make a promise to you to take more effort in editing.

I thank you for sticking with me through this learning process in blogging.

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Pockets are more necessary than I realized. Pockets are for soul refreshing.

I just got home from doing a little shopping and banking. It felt good to get in the warm house. Here in Wisconsin it is in the 20’s heading for the single digit temps later this week. I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my sweater feeling thankful for cozy pockets to warm my cold fingers.

Iam realizing I need pockets.

Pockets to carry little treasures.

Pockets of time to accomplish the items on my to do list.

Pockets of truth to bring me out of the place of lies that I sometimes get lost in. (I need friendly reminders me of what God’s truth is about the situations in life.)

Pockets of peace to know stillness and rest.

I am realizing the need for another pocket. Christmas is less than two weeks away. I started to take inventory of all that needs to be done in the next few days before Christmas and gulped, wondering, how is that going to happen?

I am realizing I need the pocket of time between now and when the new year begins to prepare for all of the holiday events that are scheduled. I also need to take time to breathe so that I can enjoy the presence of the Lord in my life.

You have to plan for pockets, or you end up without any when you really need them. I am saying all of this because I realized today that I need to take a couple weeks off from posting. I will begin posting again a couple days into the new year.

I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Christmas full of blessings. May your hearts be filled with the joy of knowing Jesus and celebrating all He is to and for us. l pray that the new year will draw you into deeper faith in Him so that you know all of the peace and hope that you can have in Him.

May your souls be refreshed this Christmas. Take time to plan for the pockets you need so that you don’t miss what is really important, the true reason for the season. Jesus is born, He came to be the Savior of the world. Praise God!

Here in the middle of all the preparations and even in the quiet of our hearts, our enemy, the devil, can attack with weapons that bring us down by way of feelings of insecurity, overwhelming stress, worry, or fear. We lose our hope and joy so quickly, we are overcome, and often unprepared for the battle. We feel all alone and scared.

I was recently studying the Bible narrative of Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6:15-23. Elisha’s servant got up in the morning to find them surrounded by enemies, and he was full of fear. Elisha immediately asked the Lord to open his servant’s eyes so that the servant would be able to see that there were more with Elisha and him than with the enemy. The Lord did just as Elisha asked and the servant saw all of the horses and chariots of fire with them.

I learned, as I studied this, that horses and chariots symbolize divine power and the fiery nature of them signifies a divine presence.

Satan uses the circumstances of life and our areas of weakness for his benefit. He wars against us, overpowering us when we least expect it.

This story of Elisha made me realize that at the first sign of enemy attack, as I recognize Satan moving in, I need to pray as Elisha prayed for his servant. Ineed to ask the Lord to help me see the Lord’s power and His presence standing with me. I need to seek to be equipped to operate in His power, kingdom power.

“… greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. ” 1 John 4:4

Satan knows our weak spots. It is often when we get too tired, feel lonely, angry, or hungry that we are even more vulnerable to his attacks. During the holidays we have extras added to our to-do lists and we grow weary in the busyness. We need to be alert as to how we are feeling, and be vigilant about standing strong in the Lord. The battle doesn’t stop because it is the holiday season. Satan doesn’t take vacations.

Our enemy wants to defeat us all the more as we seek to prepare for and celebrate our Savior’s birth. Remember to stay strong in the Lord, moment by moment, throughout this season.

Remember the Lord’s power and presence are with us to help us and defend us. We need only call on Him. He is able to give us victory against all of the feats of the devil.

God Victorious, help us to see, know, and rely on You to supply Your power and make Your presence real to us in the times we feel attacked or in a weakened state. We want our lives to bring You glory as we celebrate the wondrous gift of Jesus. Help us to not be defeated, but rather to overcome with Your kingdom power. In Your victorious name I pray. Amen.

The Lord gives us victory in our battles, remember to call on Him. HE IS ABLE TO DO MORE THAN WE CAN ASK OR IMAGINE!

I came to that realization recently as I listened to Ann Voskamp’s book The Broken Way.

I have been the too busy, driven person, too often unavailable in various ways and not present to those around me. Distracted by and overwhelmed with my to do list, striving to check off one more task. I feel that I have missed so much because of living many years of my life that way. It was doing it the wrong way for me in that I now wish I would have been more present and available to others, and especially to the Lord.

The Broken Way is an excellent book. It makes me want to grow in so many ways. It leads me in doing a lot of deep thinking. It made me realize more of my brokenness. It brought me to a place of feeling a sadness that led me to repentance. I talked with the Lord, I talked with my husband, and I talked with some dear friends, in the days that followed, about my realization. The sadness felt big.

My husband and I were recently walking through some rocky farmland, and I started to hunt for a treasure. I love rocks, but I wanted a really special one. It was freezing cold out and the wind was blustery, so my time was limited. I settled for a piece of a rock that looked like quartz on one side. I wasn’t thrilled with it, but I liked the shiny quartz side. I really wanted something that had a special meaning to me, but I could’t seem to find that special rock.

Sounds silly, I know, but it seems more often than not, the rocks I find have a special lesson for me. And as it turned out this one does also.

It was three or four days later after my finding the rock, I was writing in my prayer journal, the rock sitting on my bedside table. I glanced at it feeling disappointed as I wrote to the Lord a prayer about my brokenness.

I picked up the rock and looked at the quartz side under my bedside lamp. It was then I found that this rock is very special and extremely meaningful, more so than I could ever imagine. There on the quartz side in the pattern of the rock is a tiny little heart in the rocks own lines. “There is love in the brokenness.” That is the thought that went through my mind. The Lord loves me in and through my brokenness.

You see, that rock is a broken rock, I have a piece that is probably only a third of the whole rock. It is because it is broken that I can see the beauty of the shiny quartz. It is because it is broken that I could see the heart in the pattern of its lines.

It is now in my brokenness that I see more of the beauty of the Lord’s presence shine into my life. It is in my brokenness that I find that I am more open to my own neediness for His love and to know his heart.

I am thankful, so thankful, to the Lord for the amazing ways He shows me His loving presence. He knows exactly what I need in my brokenness, and even leads me to a rock in the middle ofan entire field of rocks to show me He is with me in my brokenness. He hears my prayers, He knows my heart. He loves me in such extravagant ways.

I can reflect on my day and consider how it went. When I reflect in this way I think back over a period of time or a conversation or just something that I want to have rerun through my mind.

Now that we are in the month of November and we are coming up to the Thanksgiving season, I think this is a good time to reflect.

It seems that the Psalmists did a lot of reflecting as they penned the Psalms.Many of their reflections led them to sing praises or to respond with hearts filled with gratitude.

I enjoy using journals to do a lot of personal reflecting. One of my journals is a Spiritual journal where I write prayers and also jot notes about what I am learning in the Scriptures. I write how the Lord is at work in my life within various situations. And I write cries to Him telling Him my deepest thoughts and feelings. My other journal is a creative journal, almost a scrapbook of sorts, I use magazine pictures and words, paints, and pencil crayons to express where I am emotionally, or what I am thinking. I also use souvenirs (tickets, napkins, coaster, etc.) to help me remember a special time or place shared and glue them in my journal and then write a synopsis of the memory for safekeeping.

It is always fun to read my Spiritual journal and be reminded of the journey the Lord has brought me on, seeing how He has answered prayers. Or to read about what He has taught me about Himself, or, often, what He has taught me about myself. I enjoy looking at and reading my creative journal too. It is full of picture memories of times, places, and feelings. Sometimes bringing smiles, other times bringing tears.

Reflecting is a valuable tool.

The Psalms are like a journal of writings describing life at a certain period of time, where they record their cries to the Lord. Sometimes the Psalm is filled with words of praise, sometimes, anger or fear, and other times words of gratitude, or a combination of all of them. One thing they all have in common is that they reflect on what God has done.

We can use individual Psalms to lead us in personal prayers of thanksgiving changing the words to reflect on our own lives and what we see the Lord doing on our behalf. Or we can use the themes of a Psalm to outline themes in ourown prayers.

The next few posts between now and Thanksgiving, I want to use some of the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving in helping us reflect on God and all He has done for us.

Praising God and giving thanks brings honor to Him.

It seems that in the busyness of life we cry out prayers of need, or read off lists of intercessory prayers, but rarely remember to tell the Lord thank you. This Thanksgiving seasons, let’s pause and reflect on God’s goodness, His faithfulness, His eternal, unfailing love, and so much more. Let’s come before Him with thankful hearts and give Him praise.

I hope that you will join as we seek to grow thankful hearts as we dig into some of the Psalms.

May your journey in reflecting upon who God is and what He has done for you fill your heart with thanksgiving.

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I have been noticing the past few months that as I take a quick break from the pressure cooker of responsibilities and obligations in order to choose activities that encourage me to breathe deeply, I am suddenly overcome with sadness.

It happened one day as I chose to take a quick walk in a park by a river. I had my camera along and was taking photos for memories of this peaceful time. I walked along and suddenly felt as though I was about to burst into tears. Feeling too vulnerable to allow that to happen, I quickly stuffed my feelings away, but remained aware of the nagging ache within.

It happened just yesterday, I stopped at a favorite coffee shop, bought my Americano, and headed back to my car to continue on my drive home. I got into the car, set my coffee down, put my head back breathing deeply, and felt this incredible longing to not have to move. Again, the feelings of sadness filled me, and I pushed them away, starting the car for the drive home.

So, what is this about? I have been thinking and praying about it as I realized it was happening more frequently. I have come to realize through books I have been reading and through intimate times with the Lord that Iam yoked to satisfying people. It is a hard yoke to bear. Jesus promises that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (see Matthew 11:28-30).

I have been trying so hard to control everything, to be responsible for everything, to please everyone, to do it all, but I cannot do it. I am yoked to an impossible taskmaster.

So what is the sadness about? The sadness is about my hungry soul. I have been trying to get it fed in so many places, but I never get the nourishment I need. I am left longing, starving, needy, and fragile. Fragile? Me, Miss Independent, Self-Sufficient? Yes, fragile.

I am needy for a place to grow that is safe, where there is food to nourish my soul, and a place to have belonging for my heart. I am needy for the place where the taskmaster isn’t cracking the whip to see how much I can do, or how many appreciate me, or if they are satisfied, but rather where there is unconditional love that I can be held in.

The place I am talking about is this, it is the place where I can put my fragile roots down in the soil of Christ’ love and be free and nourished so that the flower of my true-self can grow. It is being yoked to Him who knows me so well, so intimately that He will lead me in all of life to fulfill His purposes. But, the difference is, there I don’t have to prove myself, because I am already loved and accepted just as I am.

So today I am trying again to find that place, and stay there. It seems that the Lord takes off the heavy burden of the yoke of the other taskmaster, and I am relieved. But all too soon I have put it back on trying to find my own nourishment in the satisfaction and the appreciation of others. Ilose sight of the love Christ has for me, I forget about the freedom I have in Him (see Galatians 5:1).

There is a place for the fragile me, for the hungry me, for the heart filled with unfulfilled longings, for the needy self, there is a place in His love for all of me. He is the One who can fully nourish and satisfy me. I know this in my head, but I have to yet learn to live there in that place.

How about you? Is your soul hungry? Or have you found the nourishment of Christ’ love and learned to live there?

I know the tears may still come when I forget that He is the One who meets my needs, it is just a gentle reminder that I have been trying too hard, not resting in His love. There is hope in knowing He will help me in this process because He is my loving Father.

There are so many oppressive things in life. You listen to the news or read a news feed on your computer and you feel pressed down on every side. Accidents, illnesses, depression, suicide, broken families, terrorist scares, floods, hurricanes, or tornadoes. All of these weigh heavily on us. Feeling dissatisfied in a relationship, being hurt by a best friend, or a bad business deal can crush you. Circumstances can bring us low.

Yet Scripture tells us to “Always be joyful” (1 Thessalonians 5:16NLT). Did you catch that? Always. Not just when circumstances are pleasant. Not just when life is good, but even on the horribly, terrible, bad days, we are to be joyful.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. It is through the Spirit at work within us that we are able to know joy in times of deep trouble, when life seems so overwhelmingly hopeless.

But, it isn’t only when things are terrible that our level of joy fades, too often it seems joy is rare in every day life. I recently noticed that to be true in me. I feel hungry for more joy in my life. I did a little Bible word study in order to learn more about joy.

Here is what I discovered from some of the verses I read.

Joy is found in reading God’s Word and knowing that our belonging is in Him.

Jeremiah 15:16 “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.”

Psalm 119:111 “Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.”

When we take time to be in the Word, He leads us in delighting in Him, in finding joy in Him. I find that joy comes in seeing how intimately He knows my heart and the neediness of it. He meets me in His Word in a personal way, drawing me to Him in deeper connection.

Joy is found in receiving from the Lord.

John 16:24 NLT “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

When we pray to the Lord and look expectantly to Him for answer to the words of our prayers, we can find joy in Him answering us in beautiful, creative, loving ways.

A few weeks back I prayed for the Lord to make His presence known to me in a special way, I wanted Him to reveal Himself to me in a way He had not before. That afternoon He showed me a beautiful butterfly that sipped nectar and flew around me repeatedly as I mowed the lawn. The butterfly in its fluttery dance filled my heart with joy in the Lord’s gift of creation. It was a precious time. I found “JoyWings.” My heart found wings to fly to the Lord, my heart was filled with joy in Him.

Joy is found in the presence of the Lord.

Psalm 16:11 NLT “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your hand are pleasures forevermore.”

It is in our quiet times seeking the Lord, looking to know more of His love and as we know His presence we know joy. He leads us in wisdom, He shows us our path, He touches our individual lives in such a way that we find joy in His closeness.

Joy is given from God.

Romans 15:13 NLT “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Isaiah 29:19 NLT “The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.”

The hope that we have in knowing all the Lord has done for us brings joy to our hearts, it is a resulting gift. It is Paul’s prayer here in Romans that God fill us with joy. We can continue to pray for this as our personal prayer for our lives.

The second scripture tells us that walking in meekness leads us to the promise of fresh joy in the Lord. (See my post Surrendering: Growing Meek in Spirit for a better understanding of growing in meekness and what that means.) Reading the Word, digging deep for understanding, and then walking in obedience can bring joy as the Lord is faithful to fulfill His promises.